Resolutions
by krissyg927
Summary: Carol and Daryl meet at a New Year's Eve party. They make a few resolutions and have a few drinks. AU no ZA. Caryl.


**_A/N: I didn't forget my wip's. I got a new computer and am trying to transfer them from the cloud, not so easy lol. As soon as I transfer I can start up again. In the meantime, this is number two of my New Year's Eve one shots. It's a totally different story than Two Minutes to Midnight, but I am going to add to that one too._**

The good thing about this party was the music, Glenn really liked 311 and Beautiful Disaster played a few times so far. The bad thing was Joe had called and broke their date for tonight. They had only been out a few times, but if someone blew you off on New Year's Eve, that was a big hint.

That was her life, a beautiful disaster, stood up on New Year's Eve.

Two years ago she had been still in that joke of a marriage she was involved in. So this New Year's was still better than any she spent with that asshole Ed.

She was O for 2 right now, not too bad, last year she had stayed home alone. At least she was out this year, at a house party full of people she didn't know, or who she used to know. But she was out, she wasn't hiding in her house like a hermit like she did the other 365 days of the year.

Glenn and she had been friends in high school and she had recently moved back to town and reconnected with him and his wife Maggie. She was invited to their apparently annual New Year's eve party, but her heart wasn't in it.

There were a bunch of people from high school there, people she barely remembered. That was funny because it had only been twelve years.

But a lot could change in twelve years. She had changed too, for the better.

She sat down at the bar that Glenn had set up outside on his deck and it was unseasonably warm that night. It was a balmy 68 degrees on December 31, which was unheard of. No one was going to complain though.

There was a nice warm breeze blowing and it really felt good on her face.

Maggie was talking to Lori Walker; who Glenn had told her was now Lori Grimes having married Rick Grimes a few years ago.

Carol knew Rick in high school too, this was going to be like a high school reunion if she didn't watch out.

She turned around to get up and say hello to Lori when suddenly there was a hand on her arm. The owner of the arm spoke to her and she knew who it was right away.

"Come here often?" He said and she turned and threw her arms around Shane Walsh's neck.

"Oh my god Shane." She cried. "How are you?"

"Fine darlin, and you?"

"Never better." She said giving him an award winning smile. Behind Shane she saw Andrea Harrison approaching them, trailed by Tara Chambler. Before she knew it they were both hugging her and Shane was telling them to give her some air.

It was nice to see everyone; she couldn't deny that. Andrea and Tara went to go get a drink and Shane settled himself in to bend her ear for a few minutes, he always was a great talker.

"Where have you been all my life Carol. Huh?" He said raising his drink to her and they clicked glasses.

"Been in Delaware." She replied. "But I'm back now."

"That's great. Maybe I can get a kiss at midnight?" Shane said with a twinkle in his eye.

"If you're lucky." She said smiling as Tara and Andrea came back. They both joined the conversation and sat with her and Shane.

It was hard to feel sorry for yourself when there were so many old friends around. But still, it was like high school. Maggie and Glenn joined at the hip, Lori and Rick bickering in a corner and Shane trying to pick her and every other woman there up.

It was the senior prom all over again and suddenly she wanted out.

She lived in walking distance and she decided it was better to cut her losses and go.

She excused herself from the group saying she was going to the bathroom, but she was going to bolt out the front door and just go home.

Glenn and Maggie would understand.

/

Daryl sat on the front steps of his coworker Glenn's house not believing what he was participating in right now. His date had just texted him and said she wasn't coming to the party and that they were through.

How could you be through with someone you had only been on two dates with? He didn't even know her all that well, but that was the problem according to her. He wasn't vested in the "relationship" he didn't make her feel special enough.

He didn't know her, they had been out to dinner once and to coffee the first time they met. So much for EHarmony, that was a bunch of bullshit.

He didn't even know her. Yet she was torturing him with texts about what a jerk he was. This party blew, no offense to Glenn, but he just wasn't feeling it.

He took a sip of his beer and contemplated his plan for the night. It was nine thirty and it was going to be a long night.

He didn't know anyone but Glenn and Maggie and he wasn't up for talking to people he didn't know. That was what he did all day long at work.

He took a couple of pulls on his beer and sat there thinking about what he wanted to do.

First he started with turning his phone off and then he was getting another beer. Probably he was going to bounce, his mood was turning foul and it would be better if he just went home.

He stood up to go back inside and was met with a door to the face, specifically right in his eye.

That was going to leave a mark. The person on the other side of the door was freaking out as she ran outside to him. Trying to get the door open without hitting him again or knocking him over.

"Oh my God, Oh my God, I'm so sorry." She cried and he realized two things right away. She was gorgeous and he wasn't dipping out of this party after all.

She reached into her glass and pulled out some ice cubes and offered them to him.

"It's ok." He tried to wave her off, but she wasn't having it. She put the ice up to his face and held it there.

"I don't want you to have a shiner." She said and he could tell she really did feel bad. He allowed her to ice his face and truthfully it was helping to take the sting out.

"Most excitement I've had all night." He said as they both sat down on the front steps.

"I'm so sorry…" Carol said. "I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

"Daryl, Daryl Dixon." He said taking the ice from her hands and putting more on his face.

"I'm Carol Chambers." She said. "I'm sorry I was in a hurry."

"Bolting on this fine party." He smiled at her and took a long pull of his beer.

"Maybe." She shrugged, giving him a sheepish grin. "I haven't been here in so long, its surreal how things haven't changed."

"This is my first shindig with Glenn." Daryl said. "Might be my last."

"I know them all from high school, I don't remember you."

"Nah, I'm not from here, I work with Glenn in Atlanta." He said.

"Oh, ok." She said sipping her drink.

"You all went to school together?" He asked and they fell into an easy conversation about the high school she and Glenn went to and the one Daryl went to. They had been rival schools back in the day and Carol had even seen Daryl's brother play football back when she cheered for the opposing team with Maggie and Andrea.

"A cheerleader huh?" He turned his head towards her with a lazy grin on his face. Of course he was wondering if she still had the uniform. He was a guy after all.

She nodded. "Your brother was an all-star, did you play?"

He shook his head. "I was into computers, still am, that's what I do. What about you?"

"I'm a teacher, second grade, I start a new job after break at Christa McAuliffe school."

"My niece goes there, Merle's daughter, second grade I think too." He said as he finished his beer and she finished her drink.

"Maybe I'll meet her, what's her name?"

"Sylvia, my brother went on vacation to Canada a few years back and came back married. Sweet girl, his wife Teagan." He said lighting a cigarette. "You mind?"

She shook her head. "Give me one, I smoke when I drink."

"I need to quit, been smoking too long, making a resolution." He said with the cigarette dangling out of his mouth.

He lit the cigarette for her. "Me too, Daryl, I'm to the point that I only smoke when I drink." She said. "I can make a resolution too, I'll give up smoking for good, that and no more house parties."

He laughed at that and nodded his head. "Staying home next New Year's."

"Me too." She said.

"What's that a Cosmo or something."

"Martini." She took another sip and then it was empty, it was a good thing she walked here.

"Getcha another one?" He said pointing to her glass. "I was just getting another beer and then I was leaving."

"Oh so you were bolting?" She laughed and he did too.

"Maybe I was; I won't tell if you don't tell." He said, looking over at her, her hair was dark red, almost auburn, the kind of hair you wanted to run your fingers through.

He needed to get her to stay. Women who looked like her and had a shape like her were hard to come by.

She made jeans and a peasant blouse look better than a cocktail dress.

"Deal." She said handing him her glass.

He stood up. "How many olives you want in that martini." He said taking her glass.

"Three and it's a vodka Martini, with Stolichnaya, dirty."

He stood at the door. "Now don't run off Carol, I got a dirty Stoli with your name on it, coming right up." And then he winked at her and something stirred deep inside of her that had been asleep for a long time.

He was back in a few minutes and sitting next to her with their drinks.

"How's your eye?" She asked and she noticed it was getting black and blue. That was a shame because he had beautiful blue eyes, very much like her own.

"Hurts a little, it's not bad." He said.

She nodded and it was obvious she was relieved. She took a few sips of her drink and they listened to the noises of the party. They smoked their cigarettes and looked up at the moon and the stars in the sky. He told her about navigating by the stars and hunting. She told him about her favorite books and they had a few in common.

She could hear Shane's mouth over all of them as they all started to get loud inside.

"I'll live but you owe me." He said grinning and she looked over at him.

"Oh really?" She replied, wondering what he was up to. She felt safe, she was at a house party and it wasn't like he was slipping her a ruffie or anything.

He was a nice guy that she had almost killed and he was really easy on the eyes.

"Stay and hang out with me, we'll get drunk and…"

"I'm not getting drunk with you." She said, even then knowing that she wanted to. It had been so long since she had a good time and she wanted to so badly.

"I promise to be a gentleman, pinky promise." He put his pinky up and she joined it with hers. "I just, I think it would be fun."

"I haven't had fun in a long time, Daryl, I think I've forgotten how." She said surprised at how the two Martini's she had so far were making her talkative.

She had blown Shane right off, but this guy? She wanted to talk to him.

"Are you driving Carol?" He asked.

"Walked, I live two blocks away."

"That's good, we can get plowed and not have to worry about it." He said.

"But occifer, I only had ti Martuni's." She said and erupted in a fit of giggles that didn't just surprise her, but him too. That was an old drinker's joke and she had executed it at just the right time.

He liked her right from the jump. Getting stood up wasn't such a bad thing after all. He could sit out here and laugh all night with her.

"Why would I want to get plowed with a stranger?" She asked but he could tell she was teasing, which made him want to tease her back.

"Don't you believe in fate Carol?"

She shook her head. She didn't believe in fate, witchcraft or magic. Life had shown her what was real and what wasn't.

"I'll tell you what, you might just meet my brother and his wife, if Sylvia is in your class and then you tell me again how you don't believe in fate." He said with a twinkle in his eye and a quirk of his eyebrow.

"Do you believe?" She asked, looking over at him there was only the porch light and the moon lighting the spot where they sat on the steps.

"I believe my brother stopped for gas at some janky gas station, somewhere in the prairie in Canada. He walked in to buy a pack of smokes and she was buying a cup of coffee and now he's been married nine years. I don't think that will ever happen for me, shit, I even got stood up tonight, but I still want to get drunk with you."

He raised his glass to her.

"Stood up?" She asked, that was incredible, what were the odds?

"By text message too, but it's all good." He looked over at her. "It wasn't going anywhere."

He heard her take in a breath and she looked a little pale. He watched her take a sip of her drink. He could tell she wanted to say something. He would wait.

"I got stood up too." She whispered, almost too soft for him to hear. But he did.

He gave her one of his smiles that many a woman said made them weak in the knees, and clicked his glass to hers. He guessed maybe he believed after all.

"So I guess we're drinking tonight." He said and bumped her in the shoulder with his as they sat together on the steps.

"I guess we are." She said raising her glass.

/

Maggie walked up behind Glenn who was looking out the window at Daryl and Carol laughing from their spot on the porch. They had a few empty drinks beside them and he had found an ashtray that they had loaded up with cigarette butts.

"Spying, are you?" Maggie said and she startled him. He turned to his wife and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Shane said she disappeared over an hour ago, he thought she took off." Glenn replied. "Clearly she didn't." He laughed.

"Clearly." Maggie said and she looked out the window at their two friends.

/

It was almost midnight, he had looked at his watch a few times and contemplated seeing if she wanted to go back inside, but then he heard them all counting down inside and realized it was too late. She didn't seem to care and was content to sit there with him.

They had been out there two hours, talking about everything and nothing and now he could hear everyone counting down. It was now or never and he looked over at her. She was beautiful and he wanted to kiss her.

He decided to just go for it and to his utter shock she kissed him back. Then her hands were in his hair and really, he couldn't remember ever having such a good New Year's kiss.

Her lips were soft and yielded to him as he swiped his tongue across them. He heard her let out a soft moan and that was it for him.

A girl who made noise was a gift indeed and even though Christmas had passed, he wanted to open this present. Nice and slow.

She kissed him back with equal fervor and she struggled to remember when she had been kissed quite like this before.

Surely at one time in her life she felt this way, butterflies in her stomach from one kiss. Then it was over and he was still in front of her.

He said. "Happy New year." And then he kissed her again.

/

Before she knew it he was standing up and taking her by the hand to say good night to Maggie and Glenn. Maggie raised her eye brows in that silent girl code 'Are you sure about this'. Carol gave her a silly grin as Glenn hugged her goodbye and whispered 'He's alright' to her.

Then they were walking down the driveway and towards her house. She had four martini's tonight but she was well aware of what she was doing and he had more than a few beers.

They weren't stumbling as they walked down the street and she looked up again at the stars and the moon. Then he was next to her pulling her into his arms and kissing her again.

"If you change your mind, all you need to do is tell me." He said pulling her close and she knew she wasn't going to change her mind.

"I'm not drunk." She said.

"You're a little drunk." He took her hand and continued to walk. "But its ok, so am I."

They were at her house in less than eight minutes but he still stopped her to kiss her in the middle of the road three times on the way.

Then they were at her door and he had her pinned up against it and was kissing her again. This time more demanding and with a hint of fire. His hands were above her head on either side, but his whole body was against her.

It felt incredible and she wanted him just as much as he wanted her.

After being kissed so sloppily by her ex-husband and so disgusted by it all with Ed she shocked herself by pulling Daryl against her and wrapping her leg around his as she pulled him closer.

Finally, she reached for the door knob and led him inside, they were both more than a little torqued up now and they barely made it to the oversized chair she had in the living room. The couch was on the other side of the room but they couldn't make it that far.

The chair had an ottoman attached to it and they both landed on it at the same time, and erupted into laughter together.

"We can…" She started.

"No, It's fine." He whispered in the dark to her.

Now his hands were traveling all over her and hers were on him. The feel of his touch was sending goosebumps along her scalp and neck, a totally new feeling for her. His kisses were with total unabashed passion and she kissed him back with a feeling that she couldn't name.

The chair was just large enough for both of them and they made no move to go anywhere else. Instead Carol moved her fingers to the buttons on his shirt until it was off of him and she could look at him. He had the kind of body that made her knees go weak. His shoulders were broad and his arms just muscular enough without being overdone.

She ran her fingers over his back and down his waist and he groaned from the feeling it gave him. She sat up a little from the chair and pulled her shirt over her head. Then she looked down at him and he had this sleepy, sensual look on his face as he reached for her.

"You are so fucking beautiful." He said, pulling her down to kiss her and maneuvering it so she was on top of him. "Are you sure?" He asked and she nodded, throwing one of her legs over either side of his hips.

Just in case he was confused at all, when she ground herself against him achingly slow, he knew what she wanted. She leaned down and kissed him hot and dirty, pulling a low guttural moan out of him.

"I'm sure." She reached behind her and unhooked her bra and dropped it right on his face. She giggled to herself because that was not her. She was so inhibited usually but something about him brought the devil out of her.

His hands moved from her stomach and up to her breasts in delicious torture. When he finally reached her she was on fire from his touch. She couldn't help moving against him now, he had a way with his hands that was driving her insane by the minute.

"I just wanted to make sure." He said.

She nodded down at him and his hands continued bringing her to the brink of explosion.

"Now get those pants off because I'm going to fuck your brains out." She said and then brought her hand up to her mouth in shock that she had said that out loud.

Daryl was not stupid by any means and when a woman told you to get your pants off, you got your pants off. The quicker the better. But he pulled her down on top of him first and whispered into her ear.

"Not so fast, speedy. I got plans." He breathed into her ear and she shivered. "You go first."

He reached for the buttons on her jeans and kissed her again as he slid her pants down and threw them on the floor next to her bra and shirt. She still had her underwear on and she tugged at his belt buckle trying to get it undone.

He was overdressed for this party and she had a mind to change that right away.

He helped her and soon he was down to his boxers and she in her underwear, just two little pieces of material between them.

Carol didn't even hesitate, and for her this was totally new territory, but it just felt right. She wrapped her hand around his dick through his boxers and when he groaned from it she was right there with him. The feel of him in her hands was like a match striking and starting a fire.

She wanted it, more than anything ever before. Then she felt his fingers outside of her underwear running along the front of them.

"Oh my god." She sighed out deeply.

He closed his eyes when he felt how damp they were already and she was kissing her way up his neck. His head fell back as she made her way to just below his ear and still running her hand over his dick. Determined to slow this down, to slow her down, he pushed her underwear to the side and slid his fingers against her.

She let out a noise that was somewhere between a sigh and a moan and that just shot through him. He loved when a woman was loud and he had a feeling about her. There was something hidden in her that he wanted to let free.

"Oh fuck Carol." He moved on the chair so they were side by side and pulled her underwear down over her hips and she kicked them on to the floor. His hand was back in place in minutes and he touched her softly just right. "Fuck, that's good."

From the sounds she was making and the way her head was rolling from side he knew he was doing what she wanted.

"That what you want sweetheart?" He said expertly moving his fingers against her and pushing one inside her. She was so tight he was sure it had been a long time for her, just like it had been for him.

She arched her back and groaned out. "Yes."

His dick was aching and straining against his boxers and her tiny hand on him was almost too much to bear.

"Tell me, tell me what you want." He whispered close to her ear. "You wanna come, Carol."

"Yes." She whispered out in between breaths, feeling the sweat dripping down her face and mixing with the sweat on his face as he rubbed his cheek against hers.

"Tell me, tell me you wanna come."

Her legs were moving now and she was lost in the fog he had created around her. His words were hypnotizing her and making her lose control of herself fast. He wanted her to beg and she would do it as long as he didn't stop.

"Please, please don't stop, make me come." His freehand shot to her breast and he palmed her nipple as his fingers worked in and out of her. "Please, please."

"Give it to me." He said. "Spread your legs Carol and give it to me."

She could feel it building inside of her and it occurred to her that it had been a long time since it was someone besides herself doing this.

His hands all over her and his words had her dangling right there on the edge of the cliff. He licked her ear and blew into her ear a whisper so hot. "Come for me."

He ran his hands up over her arms and held one of them over her head. He didn't stop running his lips over her neck and chest "Now I'm begging you."

He could tell by her breathing that it was coming and after he said he was begging her that finished it. She was finished and completely losing her mind. Screaming a blue streak of profanity that was so hot it almost made him lose it right along with her.

He ran his hand through her hair and kissed the side of her face, but she was already trying to get his boxers off. He had never had a woman want him like that and it was intoxicating.

But he needed to keep his feet planted on earth. That wasn't easy either as she was kissing him and grabbing for his dick.

"Carol, wait. I don't have a condom." He blurted out. "It wasn't like that with…I didn't think I'd need..."

She just giggled and reached over into the drawer of the table next to the chair.

"I threw them in here a long time ago." She said handing one to him which he ripped open with his teeth and slid down on himself before he exploded.

"Lucky me." He said pulling he close to him for another kiss and then she rolled herself over on top of him.

She looked down at him, her fingers splayed on his chest. "Ready?"

"Ready." He said cocking his eyebrow at her.

Then she slid down on top of him in one slow movement and it was his turn to arch his back and let out a primal scream practically from the way she felt around him.

"Jesus Carol." He moaned, she was tight and wet all at the same time and it had been a long time. He looked up at her and held onto her hips as she began to move.

"I know." She breathed out.

She moved her hips in a slow agonizing motion that he was sure would kill him in the early hours of 2016, but what a way to go.

She leaned down and kissed him never stopping her movements until he was screaming her name into the dark night.

/

They fell asleep right on the chair and she just pulled a throw blanket over them that was on the back of it. The sun was high in the sky when they woke up the next morning. New Year's Day. She had expected it to be awkward but it wasn't.

He leaned over and kissed her like they had been waking up together forever.

"I don't bring men home with me…." She started to say and he just put up his hand.

"I know that and I don't go home with women." He said. "I should have told you last night."

"Well, we were in kind of a hurry."

He laughed. "You think?"

She smiled and nodded her head a blush creeping into her cheeks.

"What do you usually do on New Year's day?" He asked.

"Nothing, watch TV, eat."

"Want company? We can talk some more about our resolutions."

 ** _A/N: I know there's no ice in a dirty martini, or a regular one for that matter, believe me. I know. I might have drunk them before LOL. But when I'm writing and being creative with Carol, well, she likes them. Just like me, such a coincidence right? So I had to alter it to serve my evil purpose._**


End file.
